Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Thoughts On Recent Developments...

.:This Is Me Pretending I Care...:.

Congratulations, Manny Pacquiao! Awesome victory! Now, if you can just get off the political bandwagon, maybe I’d start caring more.

P.S. You’re an awesome guy, but I hope you don’t mind if I don’t pin my hopes on you. You got to where you are with hard work and training, not just dreams and wishes. Let’s hope your fans get the hint.

.:Books Of Wrath:.

I cannot even begin to understand how our customs can be as stupid as to do this, but here’s hoping these money-grubbing idiots get their comeuppance in due time.

The sheer gall of people like these, making their absurd assertions, and acting all high and mighty like this is just beyond me, to be honest. We signed the Florence Treaty in 1952. The way customs has been abusing their position to force people to cough up money for everything from a present to relief goods has been deplorable, and exposing the pseudo-embargo on books they’ve pretty much enforced is merely the tip of a terrible iceberg.

There isn’t enough fury I can muster up to show my displeasure over this practice. Really, there isn’t. This is pretty much why I don’t tolerate cabbies who ask me if I’d like to turn off the meter when I ride on their cabs. I have great contempt for people who game the system and abuse it.

Well, this situation bears watching. For now, that’s all I can do.

.:Geez, Lighten Up!:.

When I think about the laws of free speech in America and how their freedoms allow them to burn an American flag not merely in protest, but, in the words of Penn of Penn and Teller, in celebration of their freedom to perform such an act, I realize that such an act is illegal in the Philippines, and yet we also say we are a “free country”.

Unless I am mistaken, any given reinterpretation of the Star Spangled Banner is fair game for the United States, and I’m not surprised that we have certain specifications when it comes to the Philippine National anthem, but isn’t it time we looked at how strictly we enforce these laws?

I’m still on the fence how to feel about the national anthem bit, really. On one hand, I believe in the freedom of expression. On the other hand, I don’t want to come off as if I have no respect for my country or the national anthem.

Perhaps we should change the national anthem, to make it more singer-friendly. I mean, we already changed our national animal, didn’t we?

What we shouldn’t change, though, is our National Bookstore. That would just be terrible.